NMR and IR Spectroscopy for the Structural Characterization of Edible Fats and OilsMolly W. CrowtherThis article describes an upper-level instrumental laboratory for undergraduates that explores the complementary nature of IR and NMR spectroscopy in the analysis of five edible and structurally similar fats and oils for average chain length, degree of unsaturation, and trans fat content.Crowther, Molly W. J. Chem. Educ.2008, 85, 1550.

Consumer Chemistry |

Food Science |

IR Spectroscopy |

NMR Spectroscopy |

Qualitative Analysis |

Spectroscopy |

Fatty Acids

A Green, Guided-Inquiry Based Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution for the Organic Chemistry LaboratoryEric Eby and S. Todd DealThis alternative, electrophilic aromatic substitutionan iodination reaction of salicylamide, a popular analgesicuses environmentally friendly reagents and serves as a guided-inquiry experiment in which students are asked to predict the orientation of the substitution reaction and determine the product's structure using FT-IR spectroscopy.Eby, Eric; Deal, S. Todd. J. Chem. Educ.2008, 85, 1426.

3D NormalModes Shockwave; A Web Application for Interactive Visualization and Three Dimensional PercNickolas D. Charistos, C. A. Tsipis, Michael P. Sigalas3D Normal Modes is a Web application for interactive visualization and three-dimensional perception of the normal modes of molecular vibration, suitable for undergraduate students in chemistry. The application uses the Macromedia Shockwave plug-in and has been designed and developed especially for the Web. It has a simple graphical user interface and requires a download of only 120 KB, allowing it to be used even with low bandwidth Internet connections. Its performance is comparable to a desktop application.

IR Spectroscopy |

Raman Spectroscopy

The Effect of Anharmonicity on Diatomic Vibration; A Spreadsheet SimulationWilliam F. Coleman, Kieran F. LimInstructors and students can use this spreadsheet to quickly and easily observe how the shape of a one-dimensional vibrational potential energy curve and its associated vibrational quantum energy levels depend on the anharmonicity. This illustrates the connection between the harmonic (approximation) and anharmonic descriptions of molecular vibrations.